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Today's Must Read
The State Department explores new frontiers of lawlessness.
Two days ago, the AP broke the story that the State Department had offered immunity to Blackwater guards for their statements following the September 16th Nisour Square shootings that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.
The State Department didn't have an immediate reply to the story and seemed to be caught off guard. A "senior State Department official" told ABC that "If anyone gave such immunity it was done so without consulting senior leadership at State." Immunity? Who authorized such a thing?
But apparently such a move wasn't so unprecedented. In fact, it was "routine," reports the AP:
Limited immunity has been routinely offered to private security contractors involved in shootings in Iraq, State Department officials said Tuesday, denying such actions jeopardized criminal prosecution of Blackwater USA guards accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians....At the State Department, [State Department spokesman Sean] McCormack said "these kinds of issues are not new." He said Justice Department officials "can take steps to work around" any limited immunity agreements. "They provide limited protections that would not preclude a successful criminal prosecution," he said.
A second senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing inquiry, said the agency has for years required its security contractors to give written statements within hours of any so-called "use of deadly force" in Iraq.
Waivers granting a security worker limited immunity — by barring those statements in a criminal case against the worker — are a "routine part" of the investigations by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the official said.
So now the full scope of the lawlessness which State Department contractors in Iraq enjoy becomes clear. Not only do those contractors operate in a legal gray zone apparently beyond the reach of current law, but the State Department routinely offered immunity to guards involved in incidents in order to get their version of the story, making the prospect of prosecution all the more improbable.
Of course, the State Department has been energetically pooh-poohing the whole immunity issue altogether. Criminal prosecution is still possible they say. But as law enforcement officials have pointed out again and again, such "use" immunity means that prosecutors are given the additional burden of proving that they did not use the information gleaned from the bodyguards' statements in bringing the charges. So the FBI's investigation of that incident is most likely going nowhere.
All this is changing, of course. The Iraqi government is rushing through its repeal of immunity for American contractors from Iraqi law. And the Pentagon and State Department have finally agreed that State Department security convoys in Iraq will now fall under military control. But it took the contractors' equivalent of the Abu Ghraib scandal to force such a change in policy.
Comments (32)
Gray Water wrote on October 31, 2007 9:57 AM:If you've never been near an RV, you may not know that "gray water" is the sewer line.
We're in the sewer here, folks! Our govt is making gray water like there's no tomorrow.
It's been nearly 7 years of gray water and it's getting more fetid by the day.
Gray Water Alert!
RL in FL wrote on October 31, 2007 10:15 AM:In my small RV, the gray water tank overflows into the black water tank, so they get dumped into the sewer together........kind of like or Iraq situation.
Grey Water wrote on October 31, 2007 10:17 AM:Thank you, RL in Florida - for pointing out the true meaning of Black Water!
jvill wrote on October 31, 2007 10:20 AM:C'mon guys, President Bush told us all this oversight stuff is just a waste of time! Can we all just give each other a big Immunity Hug, cut some taxes and invade some more oil rich countries?
NitPicker1 wrote on October 31, 2007 10:26 AM:Well, actually, "grey water" is waste from sinks, washers, or showers.
"Blackwater" on the other hand is waste from the toilet, i.e. the waste stream that contains urine and feces.
Make of that what you will.
TheraP wrote on October 31, 2007 10:31 AM:Did you know our govt outsources interrogation too? I don't mean black sites (hmmm ... meaning of "black"). I mean out and out *privatized interrogation*
Do we have a word for that? Because we need one. Mercenary isn't it. Torturer?
Down in the sewers of the 7th year of constitutional betrayal, what do you call people who do "enhanced interrogation" for profit?
Grey Water wrote on October 31, 2007 10:34 AM:NitPicker1 - how very helpful! Hmmm.... waterboarding comes to mind!
Did you know that when Jews were standing in line for execution, they literally did "shit their pants?" (I learned that from Shoah - the series)
So, does waterboarding lead to shitting your pants? If so, we now have the Grey Water, Blackwater connection!
Billy Pilgrim wrote on October 31, 2007 10:41 AM:In the late 1700s, wasn't another occupying superpower overthrown in part because of the arrogant behavior if its mercenary army?
anonymouse wrote on October 31, 2007 10:42 AM:least anyone still believes we live in a democracy... these actions are blatently separating those in power from those not in power. Dictators choose which laws to obey and which to disobey.
Our leaders are now choosing to obey the laws they want to and disobey those they decide are problematic for them. The fact that they are able to choose WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES is what now separates us from a democracy, and guess what... we will continue to let them... and vote them back into office.
However, giving them more power will only be temporary. History has shown that, shortly, they will no longer need our permission to keep their power.
For those who disbelieve this scenario, just look at how many of our leaders have submitted bills which will actually disallow future administrations from doing the same thing this one is doing. WOW... NONE! Who'd have thought...
Trend Spotting wrote on October 31, 2007 10:45 AM:If the SBA is making tax rulings, the State Department is doing the DOJ's work, the DOJ is running political campaigns, what else is going on we don't know about?
There is one thing this lot is good for - it's getting other people to take the blame for the things they do. Best case scenario even if you do catch someone red handed they would say "Well sue the government, me? I'm going to my next job." Getting obscure nameless supervisors to sell out their posts for promises of better paying jobs is just routine now. Isn't then the protection of murderers just routine?
Jim wrote on October 31, 2007 10:53 AM:Black water is sewer water, gray water is sink, shower and clothes wash water. Everything that Bushco touches becomes Black water.
Jim
knownothing wrote on October 31, 2007 10:53 AM:All this angst and concern over the State Department granting immunity to its guns-for-hire is heartwarming, but it rings hollow.
Ever since they started turning up as combat-costumed bodyguards and freelance gunslingers in Afghanistan and Iraq, they have flaunted their immunity in the faces of the occupied populations as well as U.S. and allied forces. The first question was "Who are these guys?" The answers always pointed to large paychecks, even larger profits, and the confidence of people operating beyond legal and social control: The law was the deal, and the deal was shrouded in the usual Cheney-Bush mists.
All this is a long way of saying that placing amoral buccaneers in competition with our troops--who are bound, sometimes fatally, to much higher standards--was a bad idea from the start. Even without "immunity" (whatever it was the State Department had the power to grant), what is the likelihood that the administration's private operatives would be brought to justice?
via wrote on October 31, 2007 10:56 AM:Black Water is also an acute kidney disease in which blood from the kidney leaks out into urine. This entire administration is as deadly.
Tim wrote on October 31, 2007 10:56 AM:>Did you know our govt outsources
>interrogation too? I don't mean black
>sites (hmmm ... meaning of "black"). I
>mean out and out *privatized interrogation*
TheraP, I would love to read more about this. Could you please provide some links or direct us to more information on this?
Bill W wrote on October 31, 2007 11:24 AM:Tim wrote: "I would love to read more about this. Could you please provide some links or direct us to more information on this?"
This comes to mind
"Private Contractors and Torture at Abu Ghraib, Iraq"
corpwatch.org/article.php?id=10828
Lawsuit targets Abu Ghraib contractors
moondancer wrote on October 31, 2007 11:30 AM:Plaintiffs allege killing, torture by civilians at Iraqi prison
July 27, 2004
cnn.com/2004/LAW/07/27/abu.ghraib.lawsuit/
Two reasons for outsourcing Interrogation. One its a continuation of largesse to their cronies, but more importantly gives them more distance from oversight. It is much harder for inquiring minds to access or subpoena, when there is so many layers.
TheraP wrote on October 31, 2007 11:58 AM:"Prohibiting the use of contractors in interrogations may not be possible because of a shortage of Arabic speakers, said James Dunnigan, editor of StrategyPage.com, an online newsletter on military affairs and intelligence." (Bloomberg)
Josh wrote on October 31, 2007 12:02 PM:The way it is explained in the article, offering immunity to only the contractors statement to the State Dept allows the State Dept to find out what really happened without that person invoking their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. It doesn't seem likely that you'd be able to get them to testify against themselves. A criminal case could still be brought against them if there is other evidence.
NitPicker2 wrote on October 31, 2007 12:07 PM:First Paragraph: "The State Department explores new frontiers of lawlessness."
*New Frontiers of Lawlessness* - Could be the description of an Era. Not just State.
TheraP wrote on October 31, 2007 12:18 PM:"Public servants who are bound by oaths to the Constitution and the law understand what the measure of behavior must be, even if they fall short of it. Activities involving the surreptitious, especially, have properly been reserved to public institutions subject to political oversight. Private parties, bound by contract, operate at remove from such limit and accountability, which may be why borderline activities like interrogation or rendition are increasingly farmed out to them."
Mafalda Hopkirk wrote on October 31, 2007 12:25 PM:(Boston Globe/Herald Tribune)
"Public servants who are bound by oaths to the Constitution and the law understand what the measure of behavior must be"
If only this were true of the bush cabal. What do you call "public servants" who don't? Vandals?
DCB wrote on October 31, 2007 12:29 PM:Once again, Secretary Condi Rice demonstrates her incredible incompetence on the one hand and deceit on the other.
And this is the woman so recently being touted for the Republican nomincation?
Please save us from this corrupt moron.
cheyanne wrote on October 31, 2007 12:42 PM:Being a traveller and camper the analogies being made to RV gray water and blackwater are apt to my line of thinking....get it.
The only thing I have to add to this conversation is that "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like a Banana Republic" sung to the tune of It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas" but different.
And they(whoever they are, nobody knows) should know how to do it, considering they have overthrown banana republics 14 times in U.S. history, that we know of, as told in Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
Peter wrote on October 31, 2007 2:18 PM:Wouldn't you think you have an obligation to tell your boss what has happened when an accident occurs? Isn't it almost a condition of employment? If you have to ask for immunity, it ususally is a sign you are guilty of something.
theswan wrote on October 31, 2007 2:50 PM:If these killing pardons, or excuse me's pass the test, blackwater will be primed to see if it works in the US as well. And in bush justice it definately will.
DeAnna wrote on October 31, 2007 2:58 PM:I wonder how long it will take before another country follows our lead and declares Blackwater a terrorist organization?
W Action wrote on October 31, 2007 3:52 PM:It's another big incentive (deduction-free salary being another) for vets to go private instead of re-upping, and an important step in the growth of the Republican Palace Guard. Improperly injuring someone while on active duty = inquiry and possible discipline. Killing someone when Blackwaterized = no consequences.
Utopia wrote on October 31, 2007 5:16 PM:It seems as though the Little Shrub has finally succeeded in his goal of uniting the factions in the Iraqi government.
U
Katherine wrote on October 31, 2007 5:28 PM:Contractors equivalent of Abu Ghraib? Google "Steve Stefanowicz" & "Adel Nakhla".
Goldenhind wrote on October 31, 2007 6:39 PM:I was really concerned that Blackwater would show up here in San Diego to "help" with the wildfires this past week. We evacuated close to half a million people. Whole cities/areas were barricaded and the barricades manned with whatever law enforcement was available. The problem was mostly people who got (literally) hysterical and insisted they had to go back to their homes for whatever. Looting was a secondary problem. We were pretty short of National Guard as they are posted in Iraq these days, but thankfully Camp Pendleton is right here, so the MPs joined the Sheriff, city police, and what National Guard was available. All of those folks are much more likely to deal reasonably with hysterical homeowners than mercenaries who are not subject to any form of law. Without the Marines, I'm afraid the mercenaries might have been tasked.
Blackwater did eventually show up, but they are in Potrero "providing relief" for the many folks burned out there. Potrero is a very rural area with a small population where BW wants to build a training camp. There is significant local opposition. I'm sure they think that if they come through with money and maybe manpower, local resistance to their plans will lessen. Go for it; Potrero residents could certainly use the help as they are neither wealthy nor close to the city of San Diego, they are kind of at the bottom of the help list. BW functioning in that capacity are much less likely to kill someone and never be held accountable.
BW could well have come here. That is a very scary thought.
David wrote on October 31, 2007 6:46 PM:"Down in the sewers of the 7th year of constitutional betrayal, what do you call people who do "enhanced interrogation" for profit?"
Terrorists?
SadButTrue wrote on October 31, 2007 7:15 PM:Getting away with murder = business as usual. IOW, just another day in the Bush administration's 7 year crime spree.